Quick Tip 238 - Mother Color

Another subscriber's question on what does a Mother Color accomplish. Artist/Art Teacher Dianne Mize explains.

[@camilcurn]

You are just the BEST art teacher, Dianne!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Ah, thanks.

[@josephgioielli]

I hear the actor Samuel L. Jackson saying "Mother Color" in my head. lol

[@borna1231]

"I want you to go in that bag and find my wallet"

[@hr2186]

Yella mothercolor!

[@joshludwick8645]

Lol "Im a mushroom cloud layin mother color, mother color!"

[@karensliwinski1243]

Thank you for this lesson. Very important to know how to create color harmony in a painting.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

My pleasure.

[@phyllisjeanfulton]

Very clear. Thank you. I couldn’t see it until you demonstrated.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

And doing it yourself will make it even clearer. Have fun with this.

[@JP-dv7rf]

And suddenly everything just clicked for me, thank you so much Dianne!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

I am delighted! It's a pleasure doing these.

[@windywednesday4166]

I am stunned at how much I understand about color after watching your 15-minute video. I'm looking around at everything and seeing it differently. Mind blown.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Fantastic!

[@DoubleRainbows-fp6ih]

Thank you so very much. You are a Brilliant teacher. When you mentioned the light bulb 💡 ✨️ in" got it". Wonderful lesson. ☺️

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

My pleasure. Thanks for watching!

[@margigreene4395]

Thanks for helping me get a better understanding of harmonious color! I had heard of 'mother color' before but never had it explained so well! Thank you! I will need to watch this Quick Tip again!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

You are so welcome! Have fun with using mother color!

[@carollenolin7249]

You explain so well, thanks to you! Really!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks.

[@candacetroystudios]

Once again great advice. Thank you Dianne!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Always a pleasure.

[@hazarchalwati1920]

Thank you .precious information.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

My pleasure!

[@bruceosborne1892]

That was very helpful. Thank you.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks for watching.

[@susancurdamsden8164]

Thank you, Dianne!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

You are welcome.

[@cuentamedenuevo7399]

Awesome explanation! Thanks a lot for all these tips, Dianne!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks for watching.

[@artladi1453]

Amazing. I didn't know this before! Thank you for explaining this so clearly.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

You bet!

[@charlaherbert1480]

Thank you! Great information. Did not know the term 'mother color'. Thinking of it as everything being in the same light made so much sense to me.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

It's elementary, isn't it.

[@almaleal1511]

I AM LEARNING A LOT WITH YOUR TIPS...THANK YOU VERY MUCH DIANE!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

You are so welcome!

[@sheripalmer3192]

Excellent presentation and demonstration. Thank you!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

My pleasure. Thanks for watching.

[@mischabe3]

Thank you, Dianne. This info is very useful ❣️

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

That's always my hope. Thanks.

[@chammikaiser7740]

Great tip. I so enjoy your videos.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks.

[@sallyvince9476]

That was one of the best lessons on color. Thank you Dianne

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

You are so welcome! And thanks for being a Studio Insider member.

[@medsouza7]

Wow..just simply wow...love the way you explain it...you have opened my mind to the way I look at every scene in so many ways!! Thank you!!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Fantastic!

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

This is like a scientific laboratory class....exceptional.thank you.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

So much of painting is science, either physics or chemistry. It's the science of color that makes it work.

[@alanaward1918]

This is such an awesome concept and I've not seen anyone teach it so brilliantly! Thank you! ☺️

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

You're so welcome! Have fun with it.

[@joanistotler8804]

Nice explanation, Dianne, thank you!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

You bet!

[@parvaiznaseem8831]

Great Explanation!! After seeing this Tutorial will help in tremendous improvement in my Paintings. Thanks so much for sharing!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

My pleasure. Thanks for watching.

[@terryernest6264]

Another brilliant lesson ... :)

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks.

[@maryperrystone]

Fabulous.. Thank you so much

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Most welcome 😊

[@lolitakaloustianyoung7787]

Never a better explanation and demonstration of 'mother color' - simple and thorough. Thank you, Dianne.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Have fun with it.

[@irenekhng2424]

Very well explained and take away the mystery of harmonious colour in painting.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks.

[@cherimerrifield9121]

Excellent explanation.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks.

[@nazaninlabafian675]

You are the best. 🌹

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

😊 Thanks.

[@Lance2094]

Thanks Dianne!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

My pleasure.

[@kittypage333]

Thank you, I look forward to experimenting with this, hoping it'll work with watercolors too!

[@roselynbaruch3697]

Why not? Colour mixing should work with any medium. I too am into water painting.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

This principle works with any color medium. It is not medium-specific.

[@anaalfaiate2608]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge in such a clear way. I also had a wrong idea about mother colour. I'll pay attention to that! Hug from Kenya!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Little things mean a lot, don't they?

[@Meticularius]

10/11/2019 USA Grandpa Bill: Humor: Diane is artistically my mother color. This really was educational for me...opened my eyes/ Thank you.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

:) That's a hoot. My pleasure. So glad it was helpful.

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

Dianne....your depth of knowledge is phenomenal...

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks. I've had a few years learning this stuff :)

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

@@IntheStudioArtInstruction This is height of modesty...This is penance...not just years of learning. I don't want to take your time here, but I never found anyone on KZbin beside Mark Carder like you. I salute your passion🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@kimlanoue2033]

This is so interesting. I think with each painting I should make use of this to help achieve even a more harmonious pleasingly color relationship in my my paintings. This is exciting. I will give this a try. So much I have learned from you. Thank you.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Your light bulb went on! Wonderful!

[@belindahall5220]

Thanks for this tutorial!! So interesting and really helps with understanding color harmony:)

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

My pleasure, as always.

[@DineseBeckert]

Absolute clarification, wonderfully presented and now I know what that term implies!! Not only that, you have taken the color wheel to a whole new level for me, and I am confident I can say I understand it now! WOW, this is really going to make mixing paint and having harmony in my work a thing!!!!!🤗

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Have fun with it.

[@veaudor]

I like when you say "Li'l bit". (I also love your tutorials.)

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Welcome to the north Georgia accent :)

[@bobbysands5385]

Thank you!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

You bet!

[@Ravenzpeak]

I had totally the wrong idea....I was thinking it was the most dominant color (like blue for a seascape), but it's the one color that is related to all the colors in the painting that lends harmony to the color scheme. As always, your explanation is wonderful - Thanks so much for sharing!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Glad to have helped you get clarity on this.

[@makeupartistaurora]

finally I know what is Mother color,thank you!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

You’re welcome 😊

[@joantucker4731]

THANK YOU!!!! VERY HELPFUL

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks for watching.

[@robertterrell3065]

Well this is an amazing KZbin video and I'll tell you why! I went to Art School in the early 1970s. Yeah, long time ago. I have a BFA in Painting, minor in Drawing. ( my dad was glad I got a college degree at least haha ) Anyway... I was all about abstract art then, and rather minimalist. BUT... To achieve the color harmony I wanted in my paintings I would mix up a lot of a color. Like a quart, yeah I worked big! Sometimes up to 8 feet. But I called that premixed color my "base" color. All the colors in my painting had some of that Base color in them. No professor taught this, I just came up with it. It was a MOTHER COLOR METHOD. But I never heard that term until just now 👍🏻😂 We're never too old to learn we don't know everything! haha

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

The principles are universal, so many times we discover them on our own by experimenting, then later find out there is a term that covers our discovery.

[@sudeeshkirankiran6161]

Thanks a lot... Ma'am....🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Most welcome 😊

[@marycaciamasser3814]

This was so very helpful and you are so great at explaining this concept. I first heard of mother colors from Ginger Cook’s channel. She mentioned it in passing but did not expound on the subject. In my research I found Mother Colors extensively explained in Walter Foster book #63. They’re also discussed in his Flowers book (I’ll get the # for you). I understand they are sometimes referred to as Unity or Earth Colors. Their purpose seems to be as you’ve described, but you have explained that really any color can be a Mother Color. You can find this retired Walter Foster book on Ebay. I LOVE LEARNING W YOU. YOU’RE THE GREATEST DIANNE. THANK YOU!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

My pleasure. Yes, the term "mother color" is called other things, too.

[@chaconne0488]

Dear Dianne, I feel great joy and gratitude for such a wonderful explanation of what painting is really about. I have the impression that I skipped at least one grade up, thanks to just one lesson. I watch your lessons with great pleasure and thank you very much for them. Greetings from Poland.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Hello there in Poland! Thanks for being a subscriber.

[@roselynbaruch3697]

I love harmonious colours. I am experimenting with different primary colours to achieve this.Thank you for opening my eyes by using one colour more dominantly.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Have fun experimenting with the mother color concept.

[@user-oy3jr3cv1o]

Thank you 💐

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

You're welcome 😊

[@ooXChrissieXoo]

haha thanks for the intro, I was just thinking what mother color was.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

I wish I had thought to call it the genetics of color. :)

[@jorgevega6143]

Thank you.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

My pleasure. Thanks for watching.

[@dannyyoder6034]

How articulate you are. I have seen other books and videos but your instruction is the MOTHER.thank you...orange you glad for the yella?:)

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks.

[@hoskinsresearch]

This concept is especially important for Impressionism.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Yep!

[@danybrassard]

Hello, congratulations for your videos.I painted for years, when I painted a red drape, I have difficulty with my gradients, side light, thank you for your advice

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Every color can be seen in a value range from where it is in deepest shadow to where it is in the lightest light.

[@davedayes329]

Brilliant

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

😊

[@harryfisherman]

Another excellent presentation. Thank you. Could you please address the location of the horizon line in landscape paintings. Thanks.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Please see Quick Tip 237 - kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5XbeZScgL9kkKs

[@patrickcharles7190]

"Yes, I do use a traditional color wheel". Lol. I do too. "Mother Color" is a term I've been hearing more and more. I always assumed it had something to do with color harmony. Thanks for clearing it up. It makes perfect sense. Using any color harmony plan will yield a Mother Color, whether intentional or not.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Yep, that's one advantage of using a color scheme.

[@patrickcharles7190]

@@IntheStudioArtInstruction Thanks. So....would it be advantageous to paint with the intent of producing (using) a mother color? Even though a good color scheme produces a mother color, most arent conscientious of it. It may be worth trying.

[@jaimehernandelgadoquintero4539]

Gracias

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks for watching.

[@mariedavis7837]

I just found your videos. Thank you. I would love it if you would zoom in on your painting more.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks for your suggestion, and thanks for watching.

[@carolina.rentes]

Dianne, thank you for sharing so much knowledge with us. Can I ask you something ? I usually paint en plein air, and even when my paintings are done inside, they are almost always done Alla prima. I'm not a big fan of staying in the same painting for too much time. The thing is... sometimes I have trouble with my colors, specially when painting outside, because I can't seem to paint without disturbing the paint that is under that spot. I'm not sure if I'm diluting the paint too much when doing the inicial value marks, if my brushwork needs to change, If I should work trying to put the right colors in the right spots from the beginning (like Richard Schmid, wich seems almost impossible), or if my values need to be placed in a different order.... But every time I have already stablish the general values and colors, but I still need to put the lightest lights or the purest colors, my nightmare begins. Hahahaha. If you want to, and if you have the time, can you talk about this? Or if one of your classes offered on your website already adressed the issue, can you tell me witch one? Love, Carol.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Carol, it all begins with behind the scenes study of seeing color correctly. You can't control color alla prima guessing. As far as sequence of application goes, Richard Schmid's method is the best for alla prima painting. (Do you have his book Alla Prima?) As far as the technical part of apply paint goes, why use a medium mixed in your paint if you're painting alla prima? Long ago, I abandoned using a medium (except for Liquin when I need fast drying in a passage) If you slightly dampen the surface before beginning, the paint brushes on smoothly without loosening it up. That can go a long way towards keeping crisp colors. Although many of my video lessons deal with color in one way or another, you might find RELATING COLOR & VALUE-1 - Finding the Right Color helpful: diannemize.com/product/finding-the-right-color/

[@kathleenwildey2757]

Joyce Ortner uses the phrase mother color for her seascapes. The majority of hers are ultramarine blue and burnt umber combined, then she uses titanium white with a touch of raw sienna or cad yellow as a highlight.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks for adding that.

[@rigo.garcia]

Great!

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Thanks.

[@elsevandergoot5491]

mother color, a new sound ! I looked immediately at my paintings and saw that I had instinctivly done that, fortunately as I think that if one is constantly thinking what and what not to do, one is paralised. And what to do if your sky is really blue, like your first cobalt ?It will be out of harmony, but your second blue, in harmony, is not good for the sky ??? Further, I would like to ask " what are dry brush paintings" could you do a demo please of for example a sunflower ? thanks

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Nope. Everything in a scene is influenced by the color of light influencing the scene. If your sky is cobalt, then everything else in that scene will have reflecting into it a bit of cobalt. The color of the sky influences the color of everything under it. Notice how the color of the landscape changes at sunset, especially if the sky turns orange.

[@Golden_reds]

Love this tip, makes sense when I now see it in other paintings. QUESTION: In paintings like your ‘Tallulah, late September’ you have what looks like so many colours in the water and rocks. How can we discern which colours to use to make our paintings sing and look interesting, really holding the eye like that. Thanks.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Learn how to use color schemes. "Tallulah, Late September" was done with a tertiary triad scheme. I explain schemes in my book, "Finding Freedom to Create" plus I have a video series on the subject on www.diannemize.com. The magic of a tertiary triad scheme is that each one automatically has a mother color built in. For example: the yellow-green/blue-green/yellow-orange scheme has yellow as the mother color. The mother color will harmonize.

[@Golden_reds]

@@IntheStudioArtInstruction thank you - checking out your book now :)

[@mikejustice1196]

I redacted the word Mother and used the word (Smog) because all these paintings remind me of a big city like Fort Worth Texas that you can see the smog 10 miles away before you enter the city. Or like a wild fire in California that leaves the tinted smog orange/yellow orange floating for miles. Just like these paintings look like smog.😳

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Funny how our experience tends to define how we see stuff.

[@suzannezovath7869]

Question - Dianne, what is your opinion on the Munsell color scale. Is it worth the money and time to learn it ? It’s suggested most often for realistic painting, but can be used in other styles as well.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Suzanne, I don't think it's necessary. I have studied Munsell along with other major color theorists, and I fine that their complicated systems are not nearly as helpful and using the traditional color wheel as a tool, then approaching color mixing according to hue, value and intensity. There is no substitute for doing.

[@adaleenheer4146]

👍👍👍👍👍

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

😊

[@anastasiahertrich4745]

This was very helpful. I saw another video , I can’t remember whose, but it talked about washing the painting in one color before you begin. Is this a way to create a mother color without mixing it into every paint?

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Yes. Many painters use this method. It's a personal choice.

[@windywednesday4166]

Interesting, I will try that but mixing the colors myself seems more exciting.

[@royaebrahim2449]

Is that a necessary element of creating a harmonious painting of is it just a technique that might become handy?,plus is that apples in figurative painting the same way?

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Color harmony in realistic painting is a necessity, else the painting feels out of tune. The "mother color" principle make the whole painting feel that everything in the scene is being lit by the same light.

[@royaebrahim2449]

@@IntheStudioArtInstruction tank you so much for answering🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@lisafred1362]

Has any painter ever used 2 mother colors like maybe two opposites for some pop art kind of effect to cause discord ? Any examples you can recommend that I see? Thanks in advance.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

The idea of mother color is communicate the same color of illumination and mostly applies to realistic painting. One example of multiple mother colors is from Andy Warhol's series with Marilyn Monroe's image. You can see it at sites.google.com/site/andywarholcz/_/rsrc/1434916543683/home/gtfhf.png?height=320&width=320

[@HasanEtr]

Can this be another way of color harmony other than complementary scheme, triad scheme and tetrad scheme? In other words, when we apply this way of painting, does it enable us to reach color harmony for realistic painting?

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Hasan, the mother color is always the key to color harmony, no matter what color scheme is used.

[@laurenseamsodd]

So question. If you’re mother color is yellow. You always need purple or the opposite color to create the brown grey to lower intensity? Or could you use Payne’s grey or black? Of does that change the shade and not the intensity. I’m a bit confused about mother color dominance but then also needing to make the mud / grey color to mix everything with. Wouldn’t that mud be the mother color then? Thanks?

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

Let's back up a bit: Color is confusing because it's got three parts all doing something at the same time. There is HUE, which is the color's name, then that HUE can be in a range of VALUES, depending upon what the light is doing to it, and then on top of those two variables comes INTENSITY which is how saturated the HUE is within its VALUE range. We can change the HUE by adding another HUE---we can change the VALUE by adding anything darker or lighter -- and we can change the INTENSITY by adding anything that has within it the HUE's complement. SO, go fishing----the mother color is a single color that is in some degree present in all the other colors. That's one thing. Then... Any color that is neutralized to any degree contains ALL the other HUES. Example: Add to orange its complement blue---within that combination lives red, yellow (in the orange) and blue. Red+yellow=orange, red+blue=purple, blue+yellow=green----See?

[@laurenseamsodd]

@@IntheStudioArtInstruction Wow. thank you for the amazing explanation. I get it a little bit better. AS you said tho. I need to practice and play! thanks for the time you took to explain this to me. I appreciate it.

[@annaguettabi3974]

Charles Bernard talks a lot about mother color, maybe it was him who came up with the term?

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

That would be a difficult one to trace.

[@momopaints]

Do you already have a quick tip on iridescence? Or could you possibly make one? For example: when Trying to express the shiny iridescence of a mallard ducks head or a ruby throated humming bird. How can I make that really pop and give the illusion of iridescence?

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

I think you have requested this before, right? I have it on our schedule. We film these several weeks in advance so look for it in November or early December. Hint: it has to do with keeping the values of the colors close and keeping the colors as saturated as possible.

[@momopaints]

Yes sorry! I just wasn’t sure if you had seen this or not. Thank you so much. I look forward to it! Thanks for all the helpful insight!

[@sabineleppanenart3014]

In the Studio Art Instruction oh good, I’m looking forward to that lesson, too!

[@marlenemeek9030]

Dianne...does this mean that if you use a color that does not include the mother color, that color will be out of harmony with the other colors or a color that will ruin the painting?

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

You do run that risk. A realistic painting needs to feel that it is being lit by the same temperature of light. The mother color does that.

[@zerocalvin]

"Yes, I do use a traditional color wheel" wait, is there a modern color wheel?

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

There are many!

[@ButchCurry]

James Gurney did a whole series on color wheels on his blog, Gurney Journey, that's edited and reprinted in his book 'Color and Light'. You can start reading the blog posts here: gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2010/02/color-wheel-part-1.html

[@DianaMoon11428]

Sometimes I watch your videos just to listen to your accent.

[@IntheStudioArtInstruction]

😉

[@AudiobookLibrary24-7]

Stop cussing!